Ho Chi Minh City firemen had to use a large air mattress to rescue a drunk man who climbed the statue of Tran Nguyen Han at the roundabout in front of the Ben Thanh Market.

The incident happened at around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday when the man, later identified as 40-year-old Pham Van Binh of District 4, climbed the iron ladder attached to the statue for maintenance, VietNamNet reported.

He continued to climb to the statue's shoulder and then onto a dove sculpture on top of the statue and began to wave at curious passers-by below, causing a traffic jam.

After waving for 15 minutes, he sat and lay down on the dove before police and firemen of District 1 arrived. Then jumped to an air mattress placed below and was taken to the local police station.

Tran Nguyen Han is a general in the Later Lê Dynasty (1428-1527) known for helping Emperor Lê Lợi defeat the Ming army.